Join us this Earth Month for an evening of multi-disciplinary art convening around themes of eco-consciousness, air equity, and what we can do to confront histories of environmental racism in our communities. Whether the conversation is on the Inglewood Oil Fields, Hawthorne Airport, the freight & freeways & industrial yards of Boyle Heights, or contaminants following last year’s fires, the question remains… how might we come together in the fight for clean air?
We’ll begin with Ashton Phillip’s Crucible (an interspecies (de)composition) as a sonic exploration of metamorphosis, plastic(ity), and interspecies (de)composition with live contributions from a colony of plastic-metabolizing mealworm/beetles and the post-plastic ecosystem they make possible.
Following Nina Sarnelle’s Breath Work (a film screening) is a 40-min experimental opera that explores breath as resistance. Part documentary, part performative ritual, it was created by a group of 13 local community members aged 11-65 in Long Beach, CA. This area is home to massive oil production as well as one of the largest ports in the world, where 25% of imported goods enter the US by sea. In the film, shipping infrastructure, railyards, freeways, and oil refineries provide a striking backdrop for scenes of solidarity and grief, weaving together personal stories of respiratory disease and environmental racism with collective acts of defiance.
A Quiet Scream is a short program of readings and performance organized by the Scream Team with invited guests, including a visual score by Cat Mahatta, texts by K. Bradford, Ana Iwataki, Kourtney Jackson Smith, and Laura Steenberge.
